Buddhism Studies: A Visit of the Jade Buddha Temple Essay

Introduction

As part of my ongoing studies of various philosophies, I have been taking a keen interest on Buddhism, and I have reading about it in an attempt to understand the many schools Buddhism, its culture, beliefs and history in general, as well as its core teachings. I have been at the same time been comparing and contrasting the various elements of Buddhism thought of stoicism, Christianity and my own; however, I was curios about the reading culture in Buddhism practice. Houston is a large city with many Buddhist temples, I visited one temple; the Jade Buddha temple, in connection with the Texas Association. The temple was large with beautiful collection of buildings; the atmosphere was also very tranquil. Meditation starts from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., and Dharma philosophy from 10 a.m. to 10.30. a.m., although I had called earlier and I was informed of the time (Gateway magazine newsletter 2005: pp. 1-6).

Main body

At the entry way, a nice Youngman labeled ‘information’ lead me to back of the building where English Dharma discussion will be held. I took off my shoes and entered a room with short sitting benches, around the walls were also high sitting benches. A Buddhist nun, a bald woman by the name Ven. Shiou-Chih, was greeting and speaking to people. The woman seemed unapproachable, but during the lecture she was always smiling and ready to share personal anecdotes humorously. Mindfulness was the main theme of discussion; the mindfulness of our thoughts, actions and reactions; this is our efforts in working on building the habit of interjecting our conscious intellect between stimulus and response, however several other themes were discussed. During the discussion, several points were overlapping with other philosophic concepts that I had been thinking recently, but I am partial about the remarks the sister made about stoic philosophy; we can do things which we know are right, examine ourselves to see if a person is right about us, seek to understand them, but in the end, we can only do what we can do and therefore we must recognize and be contended with what we do since it is outside our control. Secondly on the Taoist Chuang-Tzu; in an attempt to make others understand our problem with them, one has to be patient, compassionate, and wait a proper time and manner in which they are receptive (Gateway magazine newsletter 2005: pp. 6-13).

As a religion, all Buddhists believers while in the temple join their hands together and bow down in respect to Buddha; this is referred to as, the act of ‘gassho’. They bow and say ‘Namu Amida Butsu” (naw-moo-ah-mee-dah-boot-soo); ‘Namu’ during the act is used to indicate an attitude of a humble student to his teacher or a seeker of truth; ‘Amida Butsu’ means “Bow to the Dharma”. I imagined my head as a “cup” which is currently full of self-centeredness and ego, the act of bowing will “empty my cup”; but according to them the “cup” gets filled with Dharma or truth; this is the essence of Buddhist awakening. The teachings of the Buddhist are essentially meant to change ourselves and not others like a Christian believer and in the teaching the change occurs when we are “filled with” or we are awaken to the Dharma. This will greatly and positively change or transform the way we view our life and all life around us. Coincidentally the life of Buddha himself as demonstrated, the true gift of Buddhism’s really compassion is found in it. The awakening of both Dharma and the corresponding awakening of compassion leads to discovering dynamic life full of energy and creativity.

The basic teaching of Buddha is impermanence; this is where all Buddhists hold the fundamental truth that all life is always moving, flowing and changing. Known as Dharma of impermanence, it was awakened by Buddha while meditating under a tree by the name, a Bodhi tree. Dharma in the actual sense means, he saw his own life fleeting, but not himself alone but all living things will someday be destroyed by impermanence, it is when he felt a great compassion for all living things and concluded that life is interdependent. According to Buddha we suffer because we consider our ego or our identity as fixed and permanent and therefore this puts us in conflict with the truth of impermanence (Bando & Stewart 1980: 42-65).

In Buddhism, there are no restrictions, Buddhism respects all life, even the one of animal and plant are all equal, they welcome visitors to their temple, according to the Buddhists, some people have even been “converted” to Buddhism, while others are still in the “research phase” or they are asking about being simultaneously a Buddhist and ‘something else’. Buddhism is essentially teaching no like other religious, those believe in a god or gods and they don’t take sides in issues that have a political element like the ones of the environment because their teaching is to ‘fix ourselves first” since “we are the problem” (Haneda 1982: 4-9). According to Christians “paganism” is normally used to refer to the belief in gods or gods rather than the normally accepted Christian God, Buddhists don’t actually concern themselves about God or god(s), but with Dharma which is not about god or god(s), but in concerns the “truth” or “reality”. Therefore when something tragic or bad happens in our lives or loved ones, Buddhist don’t ask “why did this, happen” because they don’t hold onto the belief of the existence of God or god(s) “on the look” but they instead accept the inevitable changes or impermanency of life, and therefore being grateful for every moment we are alive.

During the service Buddhist ministers wear official robes, but the members of the temple wear simple casual clothes. The Buddhist meditate for about 10 minutes during the service, while seated on their chairs, they collectively “chant” the “sutras” the Buddha teachings. Even if the meditations were ‘grueling’, their aim is to achieve “awakening” or enlightenment, this is the same for all Buddhists, and this completely justifies their means. However, the Belief that the Buddhist act of gasho is like a prayer which is held by both Christians and even some Buddhists themselves is not correct to Buddhism act, this is the expression of humility, the act of realizing with gratitude, how much one has to be thankful for it is not a ‘wish” for anything for oneself. In a typical shin Buddhist temple, the congregation consists of a predominantly Japanese American membership, and during a typical shin Buddhist service, you will typically sing one or two Japanese song and the minister himself, it is unfortunate that occasionally it is ‘she’ is at times more comfortable speaking Japanese than English (Gateway magazine newsletter 2005: 1-13).

Conclusion

Albert Einstein, once said: “The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.” As I pondered this quote, I was highly moved by the simple pragmatism of the Dharma discussion; truly, this is what religion is meant to be.

In American temples today, things are changing gradually, in particular, the younger generations. This generation is making a move towards making the services less “ethnic”; they are instead making it more universal. Buddhism is getting much popular and attention than expected and more people are showing interest and asking questions for various reasons than ever before (Haneda 1982: pp. 9-27).

Work cited

1. Bando, S. Rev. & Stewart, H. Dr. (1980). Tannisho, Eastern Buddhist XIII-1 Tannisho – Ryukoku Translation Center 1962: 42-65
2. The Gateway magazine newsletter (2005); 1-13
3. Haneda, N. Dr. (1982). December fan (translated essays of Rev. Kiyozawa); the Evil person (translated essays of Shuichi Maida) and Heard by Me (Shuich essays); 1- 29